Chapter 6 The Black Abbey Mystery
The town sheriff election at the end of 1942 ended with Sergeant Lenz's seventh and final tenure in the post, and the Allied campaign for French North Africa began less than a week after the election.It was a moment of joy for all, marking the beginning of a full-scale Allied land offensive at last (Sam Hawthorne paused to refill the empty glass for the guests).In cities, great battle-related gatherings are held frequently—festivities that sometimes raise money for the war effort.
As for a small place like Beishan Town, it is naturally impossible to attract a large-scale celebration rally, but in fact, no one even knows about the small-scale local celebrations.
The November elections brought us a new mayor: Cyril Bensmith, a gangly, driven fellow who was forty years old, a little younger than me.Before the election, I hadn't heard of this man at all, and after he became mayor, I still didn't know much about him.The family's small farm is out of the way, stretching almost as far as the neighboring town of Cape Sean after straddling the town boundary.Maybe that's why I don't know him and his childhood friend Rusty Wagner.Rusty's original name was George Schneider. Later, he went to New York, changed his name to Rusty, and played the villain in a Broadway play. The response to his performance was not bad.He went to Hollywood and became the ace of Paramount Pictures against Humphrey Bogart.Although he failed to achieve the status of Bogart, Rusty Wagner's performance in other fields was extraordinary.In April 1943, the Allied forces continued to advance towards Tunisia, and many young actors also went to the front to fight. Due to health conditions and considerable age, Rusty Wagner was unable to join the army. His role was in the country Range sells war bonds.Mayor Ben Smith heard he was having a rally in Boston and invited his old friend to drop by his hometown.
"Have you heard? Rusty Wagner is coming to our town for a war bond sale." Aibo asked me early in the morning.
"North Hills doesn't have a lot of movies," that's what I said, though there was a good theater, "I guess I've seen him on screen once or twice."
"I'm going to help with this event," she said.Aibo's husband, Andrew, left the United States with the army, so I understand her eagerness to do something about the war effort.
"No problem, I will come to you to buy a bond." I promised her.
When I got home at night and I mentioned it to Annabelle, she was more excited than I was.
"That's great news, Sam! North Hills is finally moving with the times!"
Her words made me laugh: "But many people think that Beishan Town has already run ahead of the times. For example, our murder rate..."
"I really hope you don't keep taking the responsibility for the murders on yourself. Before you came to Beishan Town, people were killed here. By the way, I'm going to call Sergeant Lansi and ask about the couple. Come over for dinner at what time?"
Inspector Lens was first elected in 1918, not long after the armistice that marked the end of the war was signed in France.At that time, I had not come to Beishan Township, and it was not until January 1922, a few years later, that I opened a clinic here.For some reason, we never talked about the crimes that occurred during this gap.
Every few months we dined with Sheriff Lenz and his wife, Vera, and it was our turn to host dinner two days later.Vera was in the kitchen helping Annabelle prepare dinner while the sheriff and I were chatting vigorously.
"A few nights ago, Annabelle and I talked about the crime rate in Beishan Town. I moved here in 1922. Was the murder case as rampant as it is today?"
Sergeant Lansi laughed while holding the sherry prepared by Annabelle: "Doctor, before you came, there was no murder here at all. You brought them here." He took a sip of the yellow liquid in the glass, He added, "It is worth mentioning the fire at Black Abbey, but no one thinks it was a murder."
I've driven past the burnt building more than once over the past two decades, wondering why the town government didn't pull it down and put the land up for auction?
"Can you tell me more about the situation at that time?" I asked.
"No problem, that was towards the end of the summer of 1921. The building was completed in the late nineteenth century as a self-sufficient farming community for ex-secular monks and defectors from other religions , they lose the shelter of their religious beliefs, but they don't want to live secularly, so it's a compromise. Sometimes, at the request of the court, they also admit a juvenile offender or two, because there are theories that after a day's Hard work can bring people back to the right way. People basically have no impression of this special group, except once a month, they will go to the city to purchase supplies. People imitate the Augustinian Priory where Martin Luther stayed in Germany, and give here It was named the Black Monastery. After the Reformation, the monks left the monastery, but Luther still lived there, providing shelter for monks and vagrants who returned to the secular world. When Luther married in 1525, this building It was given to him as a gift."
"You know a lot, Sheriff."
"Hehe, although our wedding was officiated by a Baptist priest, Vera is a Lutheran. One night we talked about the Black Abbey, and she gave me a good lesson."
"It seems that someone mentioned my name." Willa Lens walked over, "Dinner will be ready soon."
"The doctor has some interest in the Black Abbey, and I'm explaining it to him," said the sheriff.
"Didn't think you'd be interested in this, Sam. We're running an antiques sale for a war bond meeting, and someone's donating the ornate oak gate of Black Abbey. It's among the rest of the antiques, and you can go to Check out the Town Council Hall."
"Maybe I'll go once in a while. When's the rally?"
"Next Tuesday, April 20th. The day before is the Boston Rally, and they're putting it together with Patriot's Day and the Marathon." This year's Easter isn't until April 25th, which is also Easter Theoretical latest date.
We sat around the table and Annabelle came out of the kitchen with a salad.
“I was just talking to Vera about the rally,” she told me, “and I told her I wanted to be a part of it.”
"Everyone is very active! Aibo was still clamoring to help in the clinic in the morning. It seems that the appeal of movie stars is really great."
"Rusty Wagner isn't a big name at all," Vera said, pounding a fork into the salad. "Sometimes his face looks like it came out of a meat grinder..."
"But he's really good at playing villains," Annabelle said. "I saw a lot of his movies before I got married."
After finishing speaking, she turned to look at me thoughtfully and said, "Sam, we should go to the cinema more often..."
In this way, after the conversation deviated from the subject, it never returned to the Black Abbey.
Until Sunday afternoon, two days before the scheduled assembly, I accompanied Annabelle to the town council hall, and standing in front of the charred gate, I thought again of the monastery that had been destroyed in the fire.This heavy oak gate is indeed exquisite. It leans against the wall. On the front is a bas-relief in the shape of a kneeling monk wearing a hood and praying. There is nothing more suitable as a welcoming picture of the monastery. that's it.
"You see, this door was badly damaged in the fire." Vera came over and explained to us.In the well-decorated parliament hall, a wide variety of auction items were collected together.
I stroked along the texture of the relief with my fingertips, admiring the craftsman's carving work.
"Why do there seem to be a few small bug holes on the door?" Annabelle said.
She was right, there were some small holes in the side and top of the door.I pulled the door towards me, but I didn't expect the back to be smooth and clean, and it didn't look like it had been burned at all.
"What happened to the fire?" I asked Vera. "I wasn't here yet."
"I was a girl at the time, so I don't remember these things clearly, but as far as I know, this monastery belongs to some kind of religious group. In that fire, a young man died. Afterwards, the members of the group disbanded. "
"Who is its property owner?"
"I don't know. But the donor of the door is Felix Pound from the hardware store. According to him, the door has been lying in the house for many years. As for whether the abbey is their property, I don't know. "
"What are you going to do with this charity auction?" Annabelle asked.
"Buyers bid by buying war bonds, which is equivalent to spending nothing. Just wait for the bonds to be redeemed. All auction items are donated, so they shouldn't be worth much. But there are some good things that need to be discerned Pearls, like this door, just need to be cleaned and painted, and they can look like new again. Maybe some churches even take them back as treasures.”
I used my fingers to feel the exquisite carving of the door again, and was impressed by the craftsman's superb skills again, and couldn't help asking: "Whose work is this... a local, or a monk in the black monastery? "
"I'm afraid you'll have to ask Mayor Ben Smith about that."
"Then I have to ask."
Cyril Bensmith owns a dairy farm on North Town Road.His tall, lanky frame reminded him somewhat of Abraham Lincoln, yet politics had never crossed his mind until the death of his wife a few years ago.They have no children, perhaps in order to start a new life, he participated in the mayoral election, and easily won.Even though he is the mayor of a town, he still works on the farm by himself every day, because the mayor of Beishan Town is not a position with many affairs.
When I found him, he had just arrived in the parliament hall and was busy shaking hands and welcoming visitors.
"How was your day, Sam? Nice to see you here. I'm sure next Tuesday's rally will be a great success."
"No," I agreed, "plus Rusty Wagner's help."
"Rusty is an old friend of mine. We haven't seen each other for many years, but we have always been in touch."
"I especially like the door of the monastery," I said, pointing to the dark door. "Do you know the story behind this door?"
"Sorry, I know about as much as you do. Felix Pound at the hardware store donated it to the auction."
"Is the relief on the door the work of a native?"
"I don't know that either. If you get a chance, you can ask Rusty on Tuesday."
"ask him?"
"He lived in the abbey when it was on fire."
"How old was he then?"
"If I remember correctly, he should be eighteen years old. He is the same age as me. He and another boy named Fritz were caught stealing a car in Hartford. The judge told them that if they don't want to go to jail, they can choose to do it in a monastery." A summer farm job and they said yes without a second thought. That’s how I met him. His name was George at the time, but he always hated the name. We used to see each other until the abbey caught fire.”
After finishing speaking, he was busy welcoming the guests again, but I still didn't find the answer to my question.
On Monday, Officer Lens came to my office in the annexe of Pilgrim Memorial Hospital.When I returned to the office after seeing the last patient in the morning, I found him chatting with Aibo, so I invited him to sit in the consulting room.
"Is everything ready for tomorrow's war bond meeting?"
"It's about the same. Vera has been tossing me so hard, soliciting donations for the auction."
"When chatting with the mayor yesterday, he told me that Rusty Wagner once lived in the Black Monastery. It seems that the story of that year is not over yet."
"In the summer of 1921, I really don't remember. The Abbey was home to a lot of people, some from a defunct Trappist order, some from different Protestant denominations. Didn't they have all sorts of psychological The problem was not knowing where to go. Two of the young men chose to come to the Abbey to do farm work in order to avoid prison. I guess Rusty Wagner was one of them, and the other guy was burned to death."
"Tell me about the situation right now."
Sergeant Lan Si sighed and said, "Doctor, haven't we encountered enough cases in these years? We have to find out these old sesame seeds and rotten grains. It's not impossible to commit a crime. As far as I know, it's not even a crime." On. The kitchen was the first to catch fire, and then the fire spread throughout the house. It was afternoon, and everyone went to work in the fields, Wagner and another young man, whose name I forget..."
"The mayor said it was Fritz."
"Ah, yes, Fritz Heck. The two were in the house preparing dinner when the fire broke out. Wagner narrowly escaped death with severe burns, but Fritz was not so lucky. Wagner had a bruise on his face. Inconspicuous scars, I guess the burns on his body healed when he started playing villains on screen."
The sheriff had told me quite a bit, but I still had trouble with that door.I drove to Felix Pound's hardware store during my lunch break, and he was greeting customers, so I waited for him.With a clean beard and hair, Pound looked as strong as a bull. He hurried in and out, carrying timber and other goods to the waiting carriage outside.I'm not a regular here, but he recognizes me.
"Dr. Hawthorne! What brought you here? Would you like a hammer or a screwdriver?"
"It's all my bloody curiosity," I told him. "I'm particularly fond of that monastery door. They say you donated it. Where did you get it?"
"The truth is simple," he said with a grin. "I stole it, years ago. The place has been abandoned since the fire. The residents have all run away, and no one knows who the monastery belongs to. Such a beautiful door sitting there in the wind and sun, isn't it wasteful, so I took it home and put it in the warehouse at the back of the store. If someone asked me about it last year, I would have forgotten this. gone."
"That should be quite valuable." I said seriously.
"No! It's a fine workmanship, the work of one of the Abbey-dwellers. But I don't think I have the right to sell it, as it's not mine. Then someone suggested I donate it to a public bond sale, which I thought was a good idea." idea."
"You guys will definitely bid. Maybe I will also participate." Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered something and asked, "Felix, after you heard that Rusty Wagner was coming to Beishan Town Did you decide to donate?"
He frowned, obviously not understanding the meaning of my question.
"Why would I do this?"
"I was told that Rusty was also a resident of the monastery when the fire started."
"Really?" he said after a moment's thought. "I guess you're right, after hearing the news that he was coming. But I don't remember who told me."
After saying goodbye to Felix, I left the hardware store, wondering more and more about what had made Rusty Wagner decide to return to his homeland?
Tuesday is a good day for spring and Jingming, as if to welcome the people who came to participate in the war bond sale.Although not on the same scale as the Boston rally, I found that some townspeople from neighboring towns such as Sydney Point also drove to it.We set up a stand in the town square, with a colorful flag waving in the wind in the background.All the auction items are clear at a glance, and the monastery gate stands on a pillar against a background wall.
Before the rally officially started, Mayor Ben Smith specially introduced me to Rusty Wagner.He was a little shorter than I thought, and his face was very angular.Burns were still evident on his face, presumably from the fire at the monastery.But the area is not big, as long as he wants to, a little makeup can cover it up.His agent, Jack Mitchell, was by his side, his suit crumpled from the train journey.
"I heard you lived here for a while." I said, shaking Wagner's hand.
He showed a happy smile and sighed: "That was a summer long ago, and then I went to New York. The changes in Beishan Town are really great!"
The mayor put his hand on his old friend's shoulder and reminded him: "We're only a few minutes away, you'd better get on stage and get ready." He winked at me again, "We'll start with an explosion, Like in the Rusty movie."
I didn't understand what he meant at first.But what happened on the stage quickly solved my doubts: when Wagner came on stage amid bursts of applause, a man in a German military uniform suddenly appeared from behind a colored flag and stood by the gate of the monastery , he took out a Luger and aimed it at Rusty.Shots rang out, people in the audience screamed, and Rusty Wagner fell to the ground clutching his chest.
Mayor Ben Smith immediately took the microphone and waved his hands to call on the audience to remain calm. "Folks, the tragedy that happened just now is happening on the front line every day. It is the bounden duty of every citizen in Beishan Township to buy war bonds and support our government! Fortunately, the German officer on stage is actually our My own Milt Stern plays, and Rusty Wagner, he still needs to live, and more missions are still waiting for him to complete." He walked to the movie star who fell on the ground and said, "Rusty Wagner , it’s time to address the big guys!”
Wagner lay on the ground, motionless.I quickly ran to him to check, there was neither blood nor wound on his body, but I knew he was dead at a glance.
In front of hundreds of people, famous movie stars die at a war bond rally, and the explosive news spreads quickly across the country.Both Mayor Ben Smith and Sheriff Lan Si knew that Beishan Town would appear on the front pages of major newspapers tomorrow morning, so they asked me for help together.I told them to keep calm first, because even the cause of death has not been found out yet.
"What we know for now is that whatever killed him was not the bullet in Milt Stern's pistol."
Still, while the mayor was busy placating the crowd and presiding over the auction, the sheriff and I questioned Milt first.He has lived in Beishan Town for ten years. He is in his mid-thirties, married with two children, and has been working in a local feed store for the past few years. "Wagner is dead?" he asked as soon as he saw us. "He was put in an ambulance and they say he's breathing."
"He's dead, buddy," Sergeant Lens told him. "It's just that we don't want to announce it right away. It will affect the normal conduct of the auction. Everyone will be informed after the bond meeting is over."
Stern produced the Luger for us to examine.
"It was empty, and I took the magazine out, unmistakable. The gun was given to me by the mayor, and the uniform was rented from a theater costume supplier in Boston."
"Is all this the mayor's idea?" I asked.
"I thought, like he said he was going to start the rally with some sort of bombshell. So I volunteered to be a Nazi and pretend to shoot a gun."
The facts could not be clearer, and I would be surprised if the autopsy showed that Rusty Wagner died of poisoning or asphyxiation.There were no surprises, and the next morning we learned that the cause of his death was a heart attack, without any external wounds.Even so, I made a special trip to the mayor's office once.
"Obviously he has a bad heart," I said. "Maybe that's why he didn't enlist, and of course, his age."
"The tragedy is that he died in North Hills," said Mayor Ben Smith. "He could have died on the stage in Boston at any time."
"I wanted to confirm something with you. Did you explain your faux-Nazi show plan to Wagner in detail? Did he know that someone was going to shoot himself with a dead pistol?"
"Of course. As soon as he arrived in Beishan Town, I explained every detail of the whole plan to him, and my secretary Rita was there at the time."
He called Rita into his office and asked, "Rita, what did I say to Rusty Wagner when we met him at the station?"
Rita Innis was a stern, middle-aged woman who had worked in Ben Smith's farm office before he was elected mayor.After he took her to the electoral office, she performed equally well.
Rita began to recall: "You explained that a guy in a Nazi suit would show up and pretended to shoot. After Rusty fell to the ground, you called on the townspeople to buy bonds. He wasn't surprised at all, he Said he did the same thing in other cities."
"The heart attack is just a coincidence, it happened unexpectedly." Ben Smith concluded.
I have to agree with him.From both a medical and legal point of view, this is not a criminal incident.
Wagner's death cast a huge shadow over the auction. It wasn't until ten days later, when I saw Vera, that I realized that I cared about the results of the auction.
"It turned out well," she told me, "even with some contingencies."
"Who bought the door of the monastery?"
"That's a good question. The buyer was a man named Jack Mitchell. He's Rusty Wagner's agent and travels with Wagner. The door is still in town and we're going to ship it to California."
Monday after Easter.As I was driving past the wreckage of the monastery, I decided to get out of the car and have a look.The entrance was unlocked, and the grass in the deserted walkway was knee-high.One roof has been burnt through, and traces of the fire can still be seen on the wind-swept courtyard wall.There are some indications that this is a secret place for children to play.Walking down the old road leading to the backyard of the monastery, I found a spent shotgun shell.At that time, every farmer would have a weapon on hand for safety, just like there were always foxes walking around near the chicken coop.
After lunch, I came to Sheriff Lansi's office.
"I visited the Black Abbey this morning. Can you tell me more about the fire and the results of the investigation?"
The sheriff showed a familiar helpless expression: "Doctor, we have no case on hand, whether it is now or 1921. Rusty Wagner was killed by an empty gun, but this is not an impossible crime, it is a crime." Accident!"
"I just want to talk about the fire at the Abbey right now. Tell me about the young man who died in the fire."
He went to the filing cabinet and opened the bottom drawer.
"I haven't seen that document for many years. Maybe I threw it away after so long." Opening the thin folder, he took out some documents and photos.
"The name of the deceased was Fritz Heck. He was eighteen years old, the same age as Wagner. He was a handsome guy. Look at this photo. The person on the right is him."
"Is the man next to him Wagner?"
"No, that's Heike's younger brother."
I suddenly realized and nodded: "Why didn't I notice, they look alike."
“We got the photo at their home in Hartford because it was to be identified. It was undoubtedly Heike himself. His fingerprints were recorded by the Hartford Police Department in the case. He and Wagner stole a car, but didn't quite know how to drive it."
"How did the fire start?"
"The story Wagner told me went like this: They were preparing dinner and talking about a girl they met in town when Heck inadvertently put hot oil on the fire. It spread. The flames went straight to the roof and spread to the living room," Sergeant Lan Si continued, looking at Wagner's statement and his own notes, "Heike rushed into the living room and tried to control the fire, but it was too late. He was Trapped in the smoke and flames, he finally collapsed at the front door, which he tried unsuccessfully to open before dying."
"Why is this building still standing here after so many years?"
Sergeant Lan Si shrugged: "I heard that the Heike family bought this land to commemorate their dead children. But they didn't do any commemorative actions except paying taxes."
"Have you met his family?"
He shook his head and denied, "I don't know if they have been to Beishan Town, anyway, I haven't seen it. Anyway, the corpse will of course be transported back to Hartford for burial."
"Did Rusty Wagner react after the accident?"
"He was taken back to Hartford for burns too. And then we heard he went to New York and was on screen. Mayor Ben Smith was a friend of his and they kept in touch," he said, squinting. Leaning at me over the top of the glasses, "What are you trying to dig out of these old stories, am I right?"
"Try it." I smiled and picked up Fritz Heck's photo and looked at it.
"Do you have an autopsy report here?"
"That's not true... The North Hill coroner in 1921 was just a crazy extra-money surgeon. His job was to take a look at the body and tell us that the man was burned. But Hart Ford Police provided us with the medical records of the two boys at the time."
I quickly scanned the papers handed over by the sheriff, which documented common childhood illnesses, including Heck's severe flu in the 1919 epidemic.Wagner had two bouts of rheumatic fever as a child, but escaped swine flu.
"What other information do you have here?"
"Only Wagner's statement about the fire, which I have just read to you. He burned his face trying to save his friend."
I thought for a while and said, "Do you have a phone number for Wagner's agent, Jack Michel?"
"Should have, why do you want his phone?"
"Vera said that he paid a high price to buy that door. It's a bit weird to spend a lot of energy and money on such a trivial matter after my client just passed away."
I called Michelle's office on the west coast, and after a few seconds of delay, the call connected.
"Mr. Michelle, I am Dr. Hawthorne from Beishan Township. We are still investigating the unfortunate death of Rusty Wagner."
"Hello," he replied, "I just returned to the company, and now I am arranging various matters for the memorial service. I wonder what you can do for me?"
"I heard that you bought the gate of the Black Monastery at a price. Rusty lived there for a while."
"Yes, this is his request. That door seems very important to him. When the ambulance took him away, I still had a glimmer of hope that he would survive. After the bid was successful, I followed the ambulance Went to the hospital."
"Then what are you going to do with this door now?"
"Deal with?" His voice on the other end of the phone was a little higher, "I have no plan to deal with it. Since the buyer is dead, you can keep the door for another auction."
"Did he say why he wanted to buy that door so badly?"
"At least he didn't tell me. He's been at the Abbey all summer, so I guess maybe there's some old memory in there."
"Of course," I agreed, "his friend died in the fire, and he himself was badly burned."
"He always avoided talking about the things at that time, and only said that he asked me to participate in the auction and buy the door."
I thanked Michelle and hung up.
Sergeant Lan Si asked, "What do you gain?"
"Once Wagner died, he didn't need the door. He said we could keep it for another auction."
"I'll tell Vera about it."
"Where is the door now?"
"The hall of the town council. If you guessed right, it should be in the mayor's office."
"Let's go and have a look." I suggested.
Pass the town square to the council hall.Mayor Ben Smith was still eating lunch outside, and Rita, his secretary, ushered us into the office, where the door leaned against the wall.
"We are still waiting for the shipping notification," she told us.
"The other party has changed their mind," I told her, "and we can do another auction."
I came forward and examined the door more closely.
"Do you have tweezers?"
"There should be." She found a handful from the desk drawer and gave it to me.
"What are you looking for, doctor?" Sergeant Lan Si asked curiously.
"I don't know, but Wagner attaches great importance to this door, and his account of the fire is also a little unclear."
"Unclear?"
"According to his confession, Fritz Heck died trying to open the door, and fell on the inside of the door. But look at this door: the scorch marks are on the outside, while the inside is smooth as new. So when it caught fire, This door must be open, so how could Heike be trapped in the house by the thick smoke and flames? Just walk outside the monastery."
"I never thought of that!" said the sheriff in surprise.
"I wish there was a more detailed autopsy report." As I spoke, I took out a pocketknife from my pocket.
"In that era when technology was not advanced..."
"I understand."
I stared intently at the wormholes in the door, the strange marks Annabelle had mentioned to me before.I used a knife to cut out the small holes, and then carefully poked them in with the tweezers I just got.After a while, I clipped out what I wanted.
"What is this, Doctor?"
"The buckshot used in the shotgun, Annabelle thought it was a moth, but I found no similar marks behind the door. The bullets are bugs that can only go in and out. Look at this hole, it was obviously blown out by the shotgun." I said. Pointing to a small hole on the side and top of the door, he said.
"The buckshot marks should be circular," retorted the sheriff.
"Not necessarily if the bullet is caught. Sergeant, haven't you noticed that Fritz Heck was standing by the open door and he was shot. I was in the dirt in the yard this morning. A shell casing was found so I think the Abbey probably had a shotgun. The missing bullet marks on the door panel are actually on Heike and we can see that the small holes in the door are very close together, clearly a close range shot As a result, this distance is enough to kill a person."
"Rusty Wagner was the only one in the room at the time."
"Exactly," I said, "now we'll never know what happened, but considering Wagner said he and Heck were talking about a girl they met in town, we can assume they got into an argument over that, and then Wagner took one of those shotguns that every farm in those days had, and tried to drive Heck out of the door. Maybe right at the door, the shotgun went off."
"So he set it on fire on purpose?"
I nod.
"To cover up the traces of the crime. He probably burned parts of the body so that no one could see the gunshot wound from the shotgun bullet. But he was so careless that he put his own face in it, That just adds to the veracity of his invention."
"Arbitrarily looking for a coroner these days can find these bullet marks."
"Probably. A simple inspection will reveal that the deceased's lungs have not inhaled soot. This is the proof that Heike died before the monastery caught fire."
Sergeant Lan Si let out a sigh.
"The murderer is dead, so there's no need to re-open the coffin for autopsy, right?"
"Of course not."
"If only you could have come to North Hills sooner, doctor, so I wouldn't have let the killer go unpunished for so many years. It's a perfect crime."
I shook my head.
"Sheriff, you're not right, the murder of Rusty Wagner here last Tuesday would have been the perfect crime. We have nothing to do with the murderer."
The story ends at Marx's Steakhouse, a few nights after my conversation with the sheriff, and Annabelle and I were having dinner at our favorite restaurant when I saw Milt Stern at the bar drink wine.
"Excuse me, honey," I said to my wife, "I'm going to go over and talk to him."
"Sam! Didn't you say you were going to give up?"
I ignored Annabelle's words and walked straight over.
"Milt, do you have time?"
"Of course. What's the matter?"
"I just want to chat with you. There is no one in the private seat over there. It's better for us to talk there."
He glanced at Annabelle.
"Better not to leave your wife alone."
"I'll just talk to you for a while."
He followed me into the private room and sat down opposite me.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Rusty Wagner."
"God, I was so scared! It's as if I really killed him."
"Yes, the murderer is you."
He licked his lips and laughed dryly.
"Just kidding, it's really none of my business. The magazine in the gun is empty."
"Milt, why did you come to Beishan Town? Do you know that your brother was actually murdered?"
"He's not my brother..."
"Don't lie to me, he's your real brother, Milt. I've seen a photo of the two of you together, it looks like it was carved out of the same mold. You left Hartford and moved here ten years ago.德文名字改成了相同含义的英文名斯特恩。你一直怀疑瓦格纳是杀害你哥哥的凶手，也许是他在给你的某封信当中提到了某些麻烦事。总之你一到北山镇，就结婚并且安顿下来。一路追查，你终于在某处看到了菲利克斯·庞德从废墟中拯救回来的那扇门，并且明白了那些小洞背后的故事。于是当你得知瓦格纳即将来到北山镇参加战争公债集会的时候，马上有了计划。”
"plan?"
“你向庞德建议把那扇门捐献给战争公债拍卖会，并且当镇长集思广益，讨论瓦格纳的出场方式时，你自告奋勇地扮演那个身着纳粹服装用空枪射击的人。你肯定知道他小时候曾经患过两次风湿热，也许是你哥哥在信件当中提到，或者是你在某本电影迷杂志上读到过新闻。总之这样的病史使得他的心脏弱不禁风，并且也可能是造成他暂时无法应征入伍的原因。”
“他事先是知道我会用空枪射击的，”米尔特·斯特恩说道，“这不可能导致心脏病突发。”
“只是这样，也许不够。但试想当他登台后，看见自己二十二年前杀死的好友死而复活，尽管岁月在脸上留下了痕迹，但熟悉的面容并未改变太多。故友站在当年的那扇门前，用枪对着自己，枪在一瞬间走了火，他的心脏病就发作了。”
“你真以为有人会相信这个？”
“我知道，”我承认道，“至少陪审团肯定不会相信的。”
米尔特·斯特恩笑了。
“那你为什么要告诉我这些呢？还有其他人知道吗？”
“蓝思警长知道，镇长很快也将了解事情的真相。他们不会以任何名义起诉你，但对你最好的选择可能还是离开北山镇，回到你的家乡哈特福德。”
他盯着我的脸看了很久。
“你难道不明白吗，我只是做了我必须做的事，至于瓦格纳是死是活我其实控制不了。”
“你是走是留我也管不着呀。”我这么说道。
“好吧，”最后他终于下定了决心，“就按你说的办。”
我离开雅座，回到安娜贝尔身边。我能做的只有这么多了。
Notes:
Notes: